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Objects In Space is a new indie open-world space game. Its developer announced today that this game will be releasing in Early Access on June 21, 2018.

I think fans of LT might want to have a look at this one. It uses retro graphics, but from a quick watch of the Alpha gameplay video (linked below), I was surprised by the number of features described that sound much like things Josh has mentioned, or that fans of LT have suggested here.

I also was struck by how much the sensor system shown for this game matches how I imagine (and have suggested) LT's scanner might work.

There's a real and important difference between these games, though, which might matter with respect to sensor use: Objects In Space is actually described by its creator as being somewhat inspired by submarine warfare, while Limit Theory is more about Freelancer-style dogfighting.

So the careful study of sensor data probably is a better fit for Objects In Space than for a game that wants to emphasize exciting seat-of-your-pants dogfighting. I can understand why gamers who are here for the dogfighting see us talking about super-detailed scanner functionality and wonder what we're smoking.

OTOH, Josh obviously also cares about the "exploration game" in LT. This is stuff where no one's actively shooting at you, and you're trying to perceive patterns in the world of the game. In this mode, having a scanner with lots of useful options to frob makes sense for supporting fun gameplay.

It'll be interesting to see how Objects In Space handles this as a part of the full game.

Aye, that does seem quite similar to LT's sensor function, and I like the idea that your detectability range is dependent on how noisy/bright your ship is as well as the "objects go grey and their positions vague if you aren't looking at them"

As for detailed sensor data being incongruous to the freelancer dogfighting style of play, LT isn't freelancer and dogfighting is merely one of the several focuses of the game. A fighter may only need to know the position, velocity, and health of an enemy, but a miner probably wants to scan a rock to see what it contains without drilling into it, and a trader might want to know the capacity of your cargo hold. The information is all already there, if the player doesn't need it for that part of the game, hide it but make it accessible if the player wants to see it.

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So the careful study of sensor data probably is a better fit for Objects In Space than for a game that wants to emphasize exciting seat-of-your-pants dogfighting. I can understand why gamers who are here for the dogfighting see us talking about super-detailed scanner functionality and wonder what we're smoking.

Yeah, what are you guys smoking?

Actually, no, the game looks pretty cool. Wish you could see some of the universe around you, though. Doesn't look like you can, unless I missed it.

Wish you could see some of the universe around you, though. Doesn't look like you can, unless I missed it.

Maybe the developer, instead of allocating time to rendering pretty views of space, spent that time creating NPC avatars that walk around? I can definitely see that chewing up an enormous amount of attention.

Plus, it makes sense that "space ships as submarines" de-emphasizes visuals in favor of tactical data.